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We cannot save the environment without fighting

poverty. Do you agree?
IntroductionThe Environment And Poverty
As Delhi-based environment organization, the Centre for cience and
Environment, !oints out, if the !oor "orld "ere to develo! and consume in the
same manner as the #est to achieve the same living standards, $"e "ould
need t"o additional !lanet Earths to !roduce resources and absorb "astes %
and good !lanets are hard to find&' (oth environmental degradation and !overty
alleviation are urgent global issues that have a lot in common, but are often
treated se!arately) (oth environmental degradation and !overty alleviation are
urgent global issues that have a lot in common, but are often treated se!arately)
*uman-induced climate change is threatening an even blea+er future) At the
same time, the ine,uality of human societies is e-treme $The .nited /ations
0112 *uman Develo!ment 3e!ort reveals that, $4lobally, the 567 of the "orld8s
!eo!le in the highest-income countries account for 297 of total !rivate
consum!tion e-!endituresthe !oorest 567 a minuscule 0): Issues about
environment, economics and !olitics are inter-related through the "ay humans
interact "ith their surroundings and "ith each other) (iological diversity allo"s a
variety of s!ecies to all "or+ together to hel! maintain the environment "ithout
costly human intervention) #e benefit because the environment sustains us
"ith the variety of resources !roduced) However, there is often a mainstream
belief that for poor countries to develop, environmental concerns have to
be sacrificed or is a luxury to address once poverty is alleviated.
Therefore, the approaches to such issues require rethinking. The
overloaded phrase sustainable development must recognie the
interconnectedness between human beings and the environment if true
environmental and social !ustice is to be obtained.
The Im!act ;f Poverty ;n The Environment
Poverty and third "orld debt has been sho"n to result in resource stri!!ing <ust
to survive or !ay off debts) #ith the lac+ of education and social !ressure to rise
a"areness, !eo!le are una"are of these environmental !roblems)
Case studies= "epal and #angladesh have suffered from various
environmental problems such as increasingly devastating floods, often
believed to be resulting from large$scale deforestation. %or example, the
#angladesh &bserver in '(() stated* #angladesh in grave danger*
deforestation in the Himalayas aggravating floods >orests around the
"orld face increased !ressures from timber com!anies, agricultural businesses,
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and local !o!ulations that use forest resources) ome environmentalists, from
rich nations es!ecially, also raise concerns about increasing !o!ulations !lacing
e-cessive burdens on the "orld8s resources as the current ma<or source of
environmental !roblems) This ma+es for a "orrying situation for third "orld
develo!ment and !overty alleviation)
However, an environment$only approach risks blaming the victims.
+hile humans are largely responsible for many problems of the planet
today, not all humans have the same impact on the environment. ,t is
important to consider, for example, that the consumption of !ust the
worlds wealthiest fifth of humanity is so much more than the rest of the
world, as highlighted at the beginning.
Thus, !utting em!hasis on !o!ulation gro"th in this "ay is !erha!s over-
sim!listic) *o"ever, this does not mean "e can be com!lacent about future
!o!ulation burdens) ustainability is critical for the "orld8s ma<ority to develo!
"ithout follo"ing the environmentally damaging !rocesses of the "orld8s
currently industrialized nations) Also adding to the com!le-ity is that resource
usage is not necessarily fi-ed) That is, "hile there may be a finite amount of say
oil in the ground, "e may have not discovered it all, and further, overtime the
use of those resources may increase in efficiency ?or inefficiency@) This means a
!lanet could sustain a high !o!ulation ?!robably "ithin some limits@ but it is a
combination of things li+e ho" "e use resources, for "hat !ur!ose, ho" many,
ho" the use of those resources change over time, etc, that defines "hether
they are used inefficiently or not and "hether "e "ill run out of them or not)
The Im!act ;f 3icher /ations ;n The Environment
The relationshi! bet"een the rich and !oor, and the im!acts on the environment
go dee!) Economics is meant to be about efficient allocation of resources to
meet everyone8s needs) *o"ever, international !o"er !olitics and ideologies
have continued to influence !olicies in such a "ay that decision-ma+ing remains
concentrated in the hands of a fe" narro" interests) The result is that the
"orld8s resources are allocated to meet a fe" !eo!le8s "ants, not everyone8s
needs)
,ndian activist and scientist, -andana .hiva, shows in her work that many
people have been forced into poverty due to politics and economics such
as concentrated land rights, pressure from industry to exploit the
environment in ways that destroy diversity and affect local populations,
etc. hiva also highlights that the !oor often have a lot of +no"ledge about their
environment and are often sustainers and efficient users of it, as they recognize
their lin+ to it for their survival) tructural Ad<ustment !rogrammes ?APs@ have
o!ened u! of economies ra!idly, in socially, !olitically, environmentally and
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economically destructive "ays, "hile re,uiring a !rioritization on debt
re!ayment and cut bac+s on health, education and other critical services) They
have encouraged concentration on !roducing <ust a fe" cash cro!s and other
commodities !rimarily for e-!ort, using very environmentally damaging
$industrial agriculture', "hich reduces biodiversity, re,uiring costly in!uts such
as environmentally damaging !esticides and fertilizers to ma+e u! for the loss
of free services a diverse farm ecosystem "ould !rovide, and as Aandana
hiva charges,$has destroyed diverse sources of food, and it has stolen food
from other s!ecies to bring larger ,uantities of s!ecific commodities to the
mar+et, using huge ,uantities of fossil fuels and "ater and to-ic chemicals in
the !rocess) % ince cattle and earth"orms are our !artners in food
!roduction, stealing food from them ma+es it im!ossible to maintain food
!roduction over time%)
% Bore grain from t"o or three commodities arrived on national and
international mar+ets, but less food "as eaten by farm families in the Third
#orld)
The gain in $yields' of industrially !roduced cro!s is based on a theft of food
from other s!ecies and the rural !oor in the Third #orld) That is "hy, as more
grain is !roduced and traded globally, more !eo!le go hungry in the Third
#orld) 4lobal mar+ets have more commodities for trading because food has
been robbed from nature and the !oor)'
Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest, (South End Press, 2000), pp. 12-13
Bainstream economists and !oliticians have long been criticized for
concentrating on economic gro"th in "ays that ignores humanity and the
environmental costs) Perha!s one of the harshest ironies is ho" food and farm
!roducts flo" from areas of hunger and need, to areas "here money and
demand is concentrated) >arm "or+ers, and "omen es!ecially, are amongst the
"orlds most hungry)
It is not <ust a !roblem in agriculture but other industries too) In 0110, then Chief
Economist for the #orld (an+, Carry ummers, ?and later .)) Treasury
ecretary, under the Clinton Administration@, had been a strong bac+er of the
disastrous APs) *e "rote a lea+ed internal memo in 0115, revealing the e-tent
to "hich international !olicies have an im!act on nations around the "orld "hen
it comes to environmental and other considerations=
Dust bet"een you and me, shouldn8t the #orld (an+ be encouraging more
migration of dirty industries to the CDCs Eless develo!ed countriesFG % The
economic logic behind dum!ing a load of to-ic "aste in the lo"est "age country
is im!eccable, and "e should face u! to that% .nder-!o!ulated countries in
Africa are vastly under-!ollutedH their air ,uality is !robably vastly inefficiently
lo" com!ared to Cos Angeles or Be-ico City% The concern over an agent that
causes a one in a million change in the odds of !rostate cancer is obviously
going to be much higher in a country "here !eo!le survive to get !rostate
cancer than in a country "here under-five mortality is 566 !er thousand)
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Lawrene Su!!ers, Let the! eat pollution, "he Eono!ist, #e$ruar% &,
1''2. (uoted )ro! Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest, (South End Press, 2000)
p.*+, See also -ihard -o$$ins, .lo$al Pro$le!s and the /ulture o) /apitalis!
(0ll%n and 1aon, 1'''),
>or years, rich countries have been migrating some !olluting industries to !oor
countries, but still !roducing !rimarily for rich countries) This has been !ossible
insofar as it is chea!er than to !ay for costly environmentally clean technologies
that !eo!le demand)
/onclusion
The above !ust scratches the surface, but highlights the
interconnectedness of humanity, the environment and all other forms of
life. +e cannot take the environment for granted. Humanity has a
responsibility not only to each other, but to the environment as well, as
the environment has long sustained us and can only continue to do so if
we do not destroy it.Technological solutions, such as more environmentally
friendly technologies, "hile e-tremely im!ortant, do not address underlying
!olitical, social and economic causes) Dust as doctors highlight the need to
!revent illnesses in the first !lace, and resort to cures "hen needed, so too do
"e need to understand these dee!er issues in a more holistic manner) The
interconnectedness needs more recognition if environmental degradation,
!overty and other global !roblems can begin to be addressed) Concentrating on
one dimension "ithout others is similar to those blind men loo+ing at <ust a !art
of the ele!hant) A form of environmentalism that ignores humanity as an integral
!art of the solution, of economic dogma that forgets about our basic needs, and
of forms of develo!ment that ignore environmental concerns all add u! to
numerous !roblems for the "orld8s !eo!le and fragile ecosystems) ome of
these !roblems are so big "e do not even see them even "hen "e thin+ our
eyes are o!en)